Imperial Biscotti Break
Evil Twin Brewing

Tastyy

Poured stout black with a tan head that
was quickly growing until I slowed the pour.
The taste is all stout with a bit of sweetness that features vanilla and coffee over and above normal stouts. The almond is either beyond my ability to taste or I’m mistaking it for something else.
The feel is only slightly viscous, making this way too easy to drink.
OA, a very tasty imperial stout, sweet but just a little. I’d never turn one down if offered, but not sure I’d buy another. So many really good stouts, only one liver.

Pours a dark black with a medium sized dark caramel head on top. Not much of a smell just got a light roast of malts. Tastes like a normal stout, roasted malts. Was expecting more.

Black color. Thin, beige head. The rich aroma of roasted malt, coffee, almonds, and vanilla. Moderately sweet with some balancing, roasted bitterness. Good.

 

 

16oz can purchased from the fridge as a single for $5.25. Says 23110 underneath the can, so could that mean the 110th day of 2023? If so, that would be April 20, 2023. If that's true, then this beer is just under 18 months old.

Look: VERY dark. This is probably one of the darkest beers I have had. It looks like it has a nice thickness to it also. There was a finger of dark tan colored head that reduced to a thin ring around the glass. There are small bubbles rising to the surface.

Smell: It smells intense! Initially, I got a lot of soy sauce but most of that seems to have blown off. There is still some, and that's alright. I also get like a chocolate coconut macaroon flavor, I guess that is similar to biscotti with the combination of the coffee and almond and vanilla extracts. There is coffee here too, for sure. I also get dark fruits like figs and dried cherries. It smells big and bold and I am bracing myself for the taste.

Taste: Oh, this is nice. I'm pleased that this has what is just the right amount of sweetness, in my opinion, to make this really enjoyable. And the sweetness is not so much where it makes the beer cloying or difficult to drink. The finish has a nice charcoally feel to it and it actually eventually gets the palate dry and wanting another sip. The flavors are what we expected from the nose: some soy sauce, coffee, chocolate, vanilla, and almond. I wish that I would get more of those sweet marzipan and amaretto flavors or aromas, but alas. Perhaps if the beer was fresher, then they would be more prominent.

Feel: Nice body - it's medium to full-bodied. The carbonation is soft and the beer has a nice think mouthfeel.

Overall: It's a world class Imperial Stout. All that being said, it is a bit difficult to drink a large volume of this. I know it's trendy, but why does this beer need to be packaged in a 16oz can? I will look forward to trying this again when it's fresher. And hopefully, it will be in a smaller package or I will share it with a friend.

 

 

Poured from a 1 pint can that I bought in Ohio.

L - Pitch black and oily-looking going into the glass. No light can get through the glass. Head is moderately thick and foamy initially, with a medium brown color. It maintains a thin sheet and heavy lacing, all made of teeny-tiny bubbles.

S - The usual imperial stout aromas of coffee, dark chocolate and burnt grains are here. There is also a nutty note and some vanilla, especially as the beer warms. The aromas are a bit restrained, without the massive, room-filling assertiveness of some examples.

T - The flavors are also fairly conventional for the style (which is to say they are delicious)--espresso, burnt grain, molasses, light prunes and a bit of smoke. Layered onto them are some vanilla and hazelnut notes.

F - Medium to heavy body with low, creamy carbonation. Strong hops bitterness combines with the acrid roasted grains, but they are smoothed out by the heavy, sweet-ish malt. Moderate alcohol presence, especially considering the 11.5% ABV.

O - This is a very nice imperial stout, but I expected more from the description on the can. Almond and vanilla are very subtle, and I don't get any biscuit or cookie character to go along with the Biscotti name. It's just not as interesting to me as the super-high BA rating led me to expect.

 

Bit of an oj Simpson for me, dark and bitter

 

Pours out of the can a midnight black-brown, no light passes through it. A nice 2 fingers of tan head with great retention. Smells of cocoa, coffee, and roasty malts. Taste follows the nose fairly well with the coffee being the predominant flavor and the rich mouth feel is like velvet. The beer has a perfect carbonation for the style that achieves this sensation. I'm really glad I bought a four pack!

In this rendition, it's a pint can emptied into a clear Imperial pint glass. The entire contents fit almost perfectly, as there's no extraordinary foam, just a modest and enduring dark biege head. The color of the liquid is the standard black coffee brown, no more, no less. Although the aroma is less than pungent, there is some roasted barley to be had, but the almond and vanilla additions just don't impress the nose. But, what a wonderful drink! There's the sweet malt of a great stout upfront, delivered within an incredibly rich body. Now the nuances: There's coffee, but it's not overly bitter, nor the dominating taste it can be, even in good coffee stouts. The vanilla only slightly sweetens the brew, but contributes as an extra layer, not a major taste emphasis. Almond inclusion adds body and another taste layer, without changing the overall and likely adds even more body to a brew certainly not lacking thereof. It's hard pressed to find a richer bodied stout than this one. Maybe there's not great glass lacing, but other than that, this is one of the best 10+% ABV brews out there. The alcohol is warming for sure, but not harsh and barely noticeable to taste. This is a great member of its style.

L: Poured from a pint can into a sniffer - inky jet black pour with a huge head risen. About 3 fingers length to be exact.
S: Getting predominant aromas for vanilla, along side with molasses, slight roasty coffee, chocolate and malt aromas. Not getting much of the almond in this.
T: Getting a complexed mix of vanilla, chocolate, roasty coffee. You can taste the biscuit more so near the after taste of it all. Getting some after tastes of velvet as well. Almost similar to a chili brewed stout after taste to this.
F: Heavy bodied, alcohol hides very well. Sipper but easy to sip. The taste is so smooth and tasty, it reminds me of a stout I had that had chili peppers brewed into it.
O: This is a great stout for the price given. Honestly it's complexed but is very rich and easy to drink. This one I'll be buying again in the near future.

I tried a 10oz glass of this beer off the tapper at Dry Ground Brewing as a guest tap in Paducah, Kentucky. It poured an opaque dark with thin tan head that did not leave much lace. The scent had dark chocolate and gram cracker notes. The taste was nicely balanced and easy to sip. There was dark chocolate roast malt and biscotti cookie presence. The mouthfeel was fuller in body with good carbonation. Overall it is a solid beer.

 

Pours a dark brown with a small tan cap and light lacing.

Smells of coffee, booze and toasted malt.

Tastes of sweet, toasted malt, bitter coffee and a bit of caramel and vanilla. The finish is slightly bitter and very boozy warm.

This is a powerful, well made, not overly complicated, not too cloy sipper. My first pour from the can was too cold in retrospect. This brew gets better as it warms.



Medium heavy body with light carbonation. Lush and syrupy mouthfeel.